Love In Action

The first church I attended regularly (and the one in which I experienced my salvation through Jesus Christ) often comes to my mind.  I have fond memories for the people who worshiped there with me, for the marvelous pastor who preached and taught the Word of God (and who also performed the marriage ceremony for my husband and me), and for many of the wonderful ministries that church had established in the community where it was located.  One of the most endearing of those ministries was called "Love In Action."  Simply explained, this ministry was devoted to identifying specific needs in the lives of others (most often, those in that particular body of believers) and then meeting those needs by taking action.  I have never forgotten that simple name for a powerful ministry, and it is my desire to one day soon be able to establish just such a ministry group in a church in this area.  It is a sorely needed ministry in this world where a "what's in it for me" mentality seems to have taken over.  So, let's think about what Love in Action might look like for your church (or even your personal life and family).

A body of believers, a local congregation, is comprised of a multitude of people each gifted with talents and abilities bestowed upon them by the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of service to the body and the community.  As unique individuals, each of us possesses a skill set unlike anyone else.  It is our duty to put those skills and spiritual gifts to work for the glory of God and in order to visibly show our love to others.

Let's start by simply gathering information from those with whom we regularly worship:
1.  What do you do for a living?  What resources might be available to you by virtue of your employment?
2.  What special skills do you possess?  (Perhaps you're tech-savvy and have great knowledge in computers.  Maybe you're a super cook who loves preparing meals for others.  Is it possible you're a good mechanic, skilled at repairing automobiles or other motorized things?)
3.  What does your daily/weekly schedule look like?  How available can you be to meet the needs of others?
4.  What are your spiritual gifts?  (Now, before these can be shared it is certainly necessary to offer a class on spiritual gifts to the local congregation.  I will probably talk about that in another post at some time.)
5.  What drives you?  I'm not referring to what kind of auto you own, but rather to the passion that lives in your heart... that certain something you think about every day.

By creating a simple questionnaire and distributing it to all the members of the church, we can begin to build a "bank" of unique talents and abilities that exists within the body.  Using 5x7 note cards, we can then create a file of names, gifts, talents, availability, resources, and desires for service and arrange them in organized fashion for quick reference when a need is identified.  For example, if we become aware of a widow in the church who has been troubled with a leak in the roof of her home, it will be a simple matter to look through the files and identify anyone with experience and/or expertise is home repair, roofing, or carpentry who could be contacted to set into motion the work which needs to be done to help this widow and effect the needed repairs on her house.

A second example:  Information surfaces regarding a young wife and mother who is struggling with the challenges and responsibilities of cooking, cleaning, rearing children, and creating a God-honoring environment for her family in the home.  Opportunities may arise for a day of free child care (by someone in the church who is gifted in children's ministries), cooking lessons (by someone who is skilled in meal planning and preparation), help with housekeeping skills (by someone who cleans homes or whose home is evidence of their skill in that area), and the list goes on.

It should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that the church family must create an environment in which members are not hesitant to share their needs.  No one should ever feel embarrassed or tentative to reach out for help from their brothers and sisters in the Lord.  II Corinthians 1:4 tells us, "He (God) comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." (New Living Translation)  There was a time when we were not experts at what we now consider easy to accomplish.  We all began by needing instruction and guidance, so it should be only a natural response of the believer to be willing to share that knowledge we have gained through experience.  It is surely troubling to be faced with a need and have no idea where to turn for help.

Most often, when a specific need is expressed by someone, our immediate response is to say, "Well, I'll  pray about that for you."  Certainly, we should pray and we need to be in constant prayer for the needs of those around us.  However, that cannot be where we stop.  We need to put feet and hands to our prayers and find ways in which to express our love for others by taking action to meet their needs and exhibit the kind of love that Jesus showed when he turned water into wine for the marriage celebration, when he healed the centurion's daughter and restored her life, and when he used five small loaves of bread and two tiny fish to feed five thousand hungry people.

My challenge to you today is simple:  Think about establishing a "Love In Action" ministry in your church, or about becoming actively involved in such a ministry if it already exists.  Pray for those in need... and then put hands and feet to your prayers.  Invest in the lives of others as Christ has invested in yours.  Share your talents, skills, and time in order to show what real love looks like.  Stop just talking about love and start doing things to show that love really lives in you.

Some years ago a movie came out entitled "Pay It Forward."  If you've never seen it, I would recommend finding a copy to view with your family and/or friends.  The reason for the tremendous success of the movie was, I believe, to be found in the innate desire of every man to reach out in love to others and to believe that others desire to reach out in love to them, as well.  We all want to know that we're not in this life alone.  The poet, John Dunne, wrote:

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 

Let us all be "involved in mankind."  Someone else may be in need today... and we may be able to meet that need. 

Tomorrow it may be us who needs help. 

 "What is the use (profit), my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith if he has no

good works [to show for it]?  Can [such] faith save [his soul]?  If a brother or sister is poorly

clad and lacks food for each day, and one of you says to him, 'Good-bye!  Keep yourself

warm and well fed,'  without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does

that do?  So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back

it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead)."

(James 2:14-17, Amplified Bible)